Happy Sys Admin Appreciation Day!

Friday, July 30, 2010 (Last Friday of July) is the System Administrator Appreciation Day.

Yes, today marks the 11th annual celebration of systems administrators everywhere. It’s a day when you should stop and appreciate the people that keep those servers running and those backups fresh, not shake your fist at them for your poor 99.9% uptime.

On this special day, I would like to advice to employees on the proper use of the System Administrator’s valuable time!

Never write down error messages. Just click OK, or restart your computer. Avi likes to guess what the error message was.

When Avi says he coming right over, log out and go for coffee. It’s no problem for him to remember your password.

When Avi sends you an email marked as "Highly Important" or "Action Required", delete it at once. He’s probably just testing some new-fangled email software.

When Avi’s at the water cooler or outside taking a breath of fresh air, find him and ask him a computer question. The only reason he takes breaks at all is to ferret out all those employees who don’t have email or a telephone.

Send urgent email ALL IN UPPERCASE. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.

When the photocopier doesn’t work, call Avi. There’s electronics in it, so it should be right up his alley.

When you’re getting a NO DIAL TONE message at your home computer, call Avi. He enjoys fixing telephone problems from remote locations. Especially on weekends.

When something goes wrong with your home PC, dump it on Avi’s chair the next morning with no name, no phone number, and no description of the problem. Avi just loves a good mystery.

When you have Avi on the phone walking you through changing a setting on your PC, read the newspaper. Avi doesn’t actually mean for you to DO anything. He just loves to hear himself talk.

When your company offers training on an upcoming OS upgrade, don’t bother to sign up. Avi will be there to hold your hand when the time comes.

Don’t use online help. Online help is for wimps.

If you’re taking night classes in computer science, feel free to demonstrate your fledgling expertise by updating the network drivers for you and all your co-workers. Avi will be grateful for the overtime when he has to stay until 2:30am fixing all of them.

When Avi asks you whether you’ve installed any new software on your computer, LIE. It’s no one else’s business what you’ve got on your computer.

If the space bar on your keyboard doesn’t work, blame Avi for not upgrading it sooner. Hell, it’s not your fault there’s a half pound of pizza crust crumbs, nail clippings, and big sticky drops of Mountain Dew under the keys.

When you get the message saying "Are you sure?", click the "Yes" button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren’t sure, you wouldn’t be doing it, would you?

When you bump into Avi in the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon, ask him computer questions. He works 24/7, and is always thinking about computers, even when he’s at super-market buying toilet paper and doggie treats.

If your son is a student in computer science, have him come in on the weekends and do his projects on your office computer. Avi will be there for you when your son’s illegal copy of Visual Studio makes the Access database keel over and die.

(Some of the content of this post adapted from sysadminday.com)

Show your appreciation by sharing this post and I am a proud System Administrator congratulating all other sys admins across the world.

Anyway, if you can find that deep, dark cubicle fortress where your company keeps their sysadmins, stop by and say thanks for all the great work they’ve done over the year.